Tag: excess

52: Stupid in California, or, How Excess and Environmentalists Caused The Drought

In this episode of Next Level BS, we take a look at the latest drought to end all droughts in California. While many are quick to blame crops that require excessive irrigation, or environmental policies that divert billions of gallons of water because of a small fish, its not the whole story. There are dozens of rich communities, scattered throughout California, that consume more than four-times the water than the average US household outside of drought regions. One such community, with less than 20,000 people, uses nearly 8 million gallons of water each day! And thats just residential use, it doesnt factor in the four golf courses. The ultra-rich in California believe their rights to water are more important than everyone elses. This is our final episode of our second season, and were taking a short break. Watch to the end for a big announcement.

52: Stupid in California, or, How Excess and Environmentalists Caused The Drought

In this episode of Next Level BS, we take a look at the latest drought to end all droughts in California. While many are quick to blame crops that require excessive irrigation, or environmental policies that divert billions of gallons of water because of a small fish, its not the whole story. There are dozens of rich communities, scattered throughout California, that consume more than four-times the water than the average US household outside of drought regions. One such community, with less than 20,000 people, uses nearly 8 million gallons of water each day! And thats just residential use, it doesnt factor in the four golf courses. The ultra-rich in California believe their rights to water are more important than everyone elses. This is our final episode of our second season, and were taking a short break. Watch to the end for a big announcement.

51: With Rachel Dolezal, Orange Is The New Black

Weve all heard of a few journalists plagiarizing the work of others, making up key sources, faking interviews, and fabricating research. Weve also heard of people making up key education credentials and experience in their professional bios and resumes. Now, we have a person, Rachel Dolezal, who has been faking her race for political, financial, and professional gain. Thats right, Rachel Dolezal, born as a blonde-haired freckle-faced girl, has been passing herself off as a black woman, thanks to strategic use of spray-tan and ethnic hair styles. Using her new identity as a black woman, she received scholarships, teaching positions, and even a leadership role in the NAACP. This one cant be missed.

50: The Strong Sight Program, Where The BS is Strong

Today, with our landmark 50th episode, we follow another viewer submission and take a close look at the Strong Sight Program, supposedly developer by a Dr. Benjamin Miller. Dr. Miller claims that the eye-care industry tried to pay him half a million dollars to keep secret, his method of improving eyesight. Never mind that we couldnt find Dr. Miller, or that stock photography has been used instead of an actual photo of himself, theres another doctor claiming Miller stole the eyesight improvement method from him! It gets even more weird as both methods are based on complete BS from the 1920s, and have been repeatedly proven ineffective in improving the quality of vision. Just like the Memory Healer Program, another scam falls by the wayside.

49: Louisiana is the Prison Capital of the US. Because; Money!

Todays NLBS was inspired by the ridiculously over-the-top reaction of Louisiana law enforcement to an eight-grader throwing Skittles on a school bus. It didnt take long to discover that Louisiana has the highest incarceration rate in the nation, at nearly double the national average, and five-times that of Iran (per capita). It wasnt always this way. In fact, the incarceration rate has doubled since the 1990s when the Prison Industrial Complex became involved in for-profit prisons. But thats not the only reason. Youll be dismayed, shocked, angered, and maybe not all that surprised when you discover who is profiting from keeping as many people behind bars as possible.

48: The United States Is Not, And Never Was, A Christian Nation

Given the recent increased in religiously-inspired rhetoric in the election season ramp-up, and the various pundits and politicians adamantly stating the US is a Christian Nation, we decided to dig into this particularly sensitive pile of BS. Because to us, the BS seems rather intense that a nation could go from its founding fathers sending threatening letters to early faith-based local governments, to Presidents and Senators claiming Christian Nation status. We find the origins of the claim, and it might all come down to the placement of a comma in an historic speech.

47: The Real Reason College is Expensive: Wall Street BS

This week we follow the lead of one of our avid viewers, and take a deep look into his concerns about the serious BS happening in the University of California system, which is happening all over the country. It turns out that the rising cost of college tuition is not because of the rising cost of educating students; its because of Wall Street bankers. We outline collusion, conflicts of interest, and outright fraud in the ridiculously bloated University of California system that is the direct cause of higher and higher tuition. Wall Street is profiting on both sides of the higher-education ecosystem through risky investment vehicles for the Universities that drive up tuition, and bigger student loans that are required for the higher tuition theyve caused.

46: The Madness Of Helicopter Parents Versus Free Range Parents

Today on Next Level BS, we take a look at how helicopter parents are not just being insanely smothering of their own kids, they expect society to be overly protective of all kids, everywhere. A recent situation in Maryland, highlights the insanity, where the local police literally abducted a couples kids, for hours and without notification, because they were simply walking home from the park, alone. Stranger Danger now applies to police officers, because we show why its more dangerous for kids to be in the custody of Child Protective Services, than walking alone on a residential street.

45: The Death of America, by Billions of Cuts of Stupidity

America, and to some extend the world, is dying a slow agonizing death of billions of cuts of stupidity. This week, we take a look at some examples of the confounding rise of stupidity in the United States. While each one may only effect a relatively small number of people, collectively it all combines to be the death of a nation. It didnt always used to be this way, and we look at what Charles Pierce wrote in his book, Idiot America: How Stupidity Became a Virtue in The Land of The Free. We also explain why there was no episode last week.

44: Taking a Look at Indianas Religious Freedom Restoration BS

Today we couldnt resist sinking our teeth into the multi-layered BS coming out of Indiana, after Governor Mike Pence signed their Religions Freedom Restoration Act into law. The resulting storm of mainstream media exaggerations, social media indignation and religious-right celebrations is nothing short of epic. The law doesnt make it legal for bigots to discriminate against people, but enables those people to use their religion as defense when they do. We take a close look at the law, the history of what brought it all about, and even examine a significant group of people this law cant protect. Grab your hip-waders and follow along, the BS is deep with this one.

43: Israel Was Spying On The US Nuclear Talks With Iran

In this episode we take a look at the Next Level BS spilling out all over the place in connection with the news that Israel was spying on the United States efforts in the nuclear negotiations with Iran. While we might call for prosecution of those senators involved under the espionage act, the sad truth is that the government tends to favor people who reveal secrets, as long as they have powerful political friends. We also look at the false indignation over the Obama administrations so-called secret negotiations. Its always been that way, and we always suck at it.

42: Bad USB Security Risks In The Wild and The NSA

This episode of Next Level BS is inspired by Apples shiny new Retina MacBook, with its singular USB 3c port for everything from power to your camera. Thats right, one port that requires an $80 dongle to connect anything other than your power cord. And as it turns out, its one very unsecured port with known exploits already out in the wild. Exploits that can expose all your data, and take over complete control of your computer. So we asked ourselves, havent we heard something about USB exploits before? Yes we did. Advanced Network Technology a division of the NSAs Tailored Access Operations has a catalog full of scary tools for the hacker spy, USB exploits included.

41: The 47 Republican Traitors And Their Letter to Iran

This week, on Next Level BS, we take a look at the perilous insanity going on in Washington, DC. Specifically, the lunacy around demanding that the 47 Republican Senators who authored a ridiculous letter to Iranian leaders, be prosecuted under the Logan Act. Never mind that nobody, from Ted Kennedy to Barack Obama, has ever been prosecuted under the Logan Act, thats far from the worst of the fallout from this act of supreme stupidity. If this doesnt get the American voters fed up with the intensely dysfunctional government in DC – on both sides of the fence – then we have no idea what will.

40: President Obama Wont Say Radical Islam; We Have A More Accurate Alternative: Weaponized Islam

This week, we take an in-depth look into one of last centurys biggest, right-under-your-nose conspiracies. Beginning with President Obamas tap-dance around no-nonsense terminology when it comes to violent, extremist Muslims, we follow-through with some important history. We start with Saudi Arabias critical partnership with the US during World War II, we take some steps through the events of the 1970s and 1980s. Its there, in that history, that we find the new term Obama should use as a more accurate alternative to Radical Islam. We think youll agree.

39: Christians Against Dinosaurs and the Dinosaur Hoax

Christians Against Dinosaurs released a series of rather absurd videos over the past few weeks, and some went viral. Filled with science-denying claims and pigheaded arguments, the videos made absurd claims such as; the largest of dinosaurs, sauropods, could never have existed because of their size and dietary needs. While many are passing these videos off as some kind of over-the-top satire, the Christians Against Dinosaurs website presents itself as a real Christian ministry. However, theyre not the first to go to extreme efforts to argue the point that dinosaurs are a hoax created by paleontologists. Theres a significant number of very serious people, posting articles and videos online, who argue that dinosaurs never existed. We take a look at some of the more significant claims, as well as some of the history of real dinosaur hoaxes.

38: Water Fluoridation, The Facts, The Conspiracies, and the Reality

We finally did it, we took a very common user request, water fluoridation, and sunk in our teeth (no pun intended) deep into the issues (okay, that was a pun). Of all the topics we looked at, this one is surrounded by an extraordinarily high level of wild histrionics, bizarre pseudo-science, obvious agendas, and outright lies that parrot often decades-old misconceptions. This was a tough one, our toughest yet, and involved nearly continues research since we turned off the camera after show 37. Its certianly clear that there are verified and important dental health benefits that result from drinking fluoridated water. But its also painfully clear that no other topic has been so heavily influenced by disinformation and distortion; from both sides of the issue. As youll see, we didnt take the easy road, and in fact, modified our conclusions mere hours before shooting the show.

37: The Trans Pacific Partnership, a Corporate Takeover of US Trade Policy

Since just about episode one, the most common user-requested issue has been the super-secret Trans Pacific Partnership agreement. Its a gigantic trade, legal, and financial agreement between the United States and 11 other Pacific-facing countries, currently under negotiations driven by the Office of the US Trade Representative. Theres actually very little known about the very broad and secretly negotiated deal because of the Fast Track Trade Authority given to the President by Congress. But what we do know isnt just alarming, its another apparently successful tactic in the corporate takeover of the US and other governments.

36: The Authoritarian New World Order Starts in The UK, and it Started Last Year!

An avid viewer, Sam Leigh in the UK, sent us a video outlining some draconian new policies in the UK. It certainly sounded compelling, if not a bit over the top. So, when we began our research, we thought, Theres no way this is actually happening. Sure enough, the our early research, it looked like the issue may have been based on some misconstrued news of a discontinued program. Thankfully, we didnt stop digging. It turns out that the policies and authorities of that apparently discontinued program were integrated into the UKs Border System Programme, and nicely combined with the Data Retention and Investigatory Powers Act. Thats when we soiled our pants. Seriously. We take you through what happened, how it nearly also came to pass here in the USA, and then we check in with Sam for some follow-up comments. This is one where were not going to say, enjoy!

35: The Anti-Vaccination Movement and the Recent Measles Outbreak

Last week, our episode on the supposed EMF Sensitivity Syndrome inspired some hate from many of our viewers, so for todays episode, we decided cover something less controversial, the crazy Anti-Vaccination Movement. Following the outbreak of measles in California, and the ensuing outbreak in Arizona reaching critical levels, the anti-vaccination movement is being blamed, and for lots of really good reasons. We dig into the misinformation, deception, and outright lies at the center of this movement, including the supposed CDC whistleblower of a few months ago. And for good measure, we also look at the pharmaceutical industrial complex, otherwise known as Big Pharma, as an influencing factor in why some parents are opting out of vaccinations.

Today we tackle another viewer request, are remedies for EMF Sensitivity in humans complete BS? We took a deep dive into the claims by those in the EMF sensitivity business, and that it causes everything from headaches to acute fibromyalgia. Then we actually look at real science and how electro magnetic fields may have an effect on humans, as well as a couple of the incredibly high-priced remedies. Needless to say, theres not much actual science out there, that supports the notion that non-ionizing EMF has any effect on humans.

33: David Cameron Vows to End Privacy in Exchange for Security

Today we deconstruct the madness coming out of the UK in David Camerons response to the attacks in France. He has vowed to outlaw the public use of all encryption technologies, if he is reelected in the coming general election. The proposal is astonishingly broad and far reaching; outlawing secure communications and potentially even restricting encrypted passwords! To make matters worse, we conclusively show how this will have no effect on the ability thwart terrorism. Its clearly just a pretext to legalize additional monitoring on law abiding citizens.

32: The Memory Healer Program, is it all BS?

For this episode, we followed the lead of an email we received from one of our views. He asked us to take a close look at the Memory Healer Program, which is an apparent dietary regimen that supposed to stave off the effects of Alzheimers disease. This program, is surrounded by a great deal of marketing hype, including lots of artificial reviews, videos, and a slew of sites that mimic a multilevel marketing scheme. We dig into the claims of the programs creators, and compare those with actual science that recently came out of the Yale University of Medicine.

31: We See Shape Shifting Reptilian Humans Everywhere!

Today we take a look at one of the more recently popularized conspiracy theories, thanks to YouTube, human/reptilian hybrids accidentally revealing themselves in videos. The idea of hybrid reptilians in positions of power was first popularized by David Icke in 1999. But recently, people have been taking to YouTube to find all kinds of people from politicians to news casters apparently briefly revealing their true reptilian nature. We take a look at the back story to this phenomenon, and then break down what were actually seeing in those videos. Enjoy this one!

30: The Top Ten Steaming Turds of 2014

Thats right, were playing copy-cat and doing our own year-end wrap up video just like everyone else. Except in our case, were counting down what we see to be the top 10 BS stories from 2014. Were doing this to give everyone that nice warm fuzzy feeling from looking back on another year, as we head into a new year with new optimism and hope for the future. I think I just threw-up in my mouth when I typed that. Number 10 is one of the BS ways the media tries to scare you with bombastic terminology, 9 covers corporate screw-ups, 8 is an epic-BS politician, and it goes downhill fast from there. Enjoy, and well see you next year.

29: Police Officer Caught with Five Pounds of Pot: No Charges

Today we take a close look at a confusing incident in California, as K9 officer Joe Avila was found with five points of marijuana that should be in the evidence lock-up. Local authorities are not filing charges, preferring to put officer Avila on paid administrative leave. The problem is, this double standard for police officers is a significant part of whatapos;s causing intense frustration with law enforcement across the country. We compare the insanely light slap on the wrist he received with other insanely disproportionate sentences for nonviolent marijuana offenders. One of which is a sob-story from Arizona where civil asset forfeiture is ruining the life of a man licensed to cultivate marijuana.

28: Detoxing Cleanses Dont Do Anything For You

After a long flu-induced hiatus, were finally back with a new episode about the hype and BS surrounding the pseudo-science of detoxing cleanses. You know, those seven or fifteen day regimens of usually foul-tasting juice concoctions and limited calories, typically promoted by self-absorbed hipsters. We uncover the deception going on with the purveyors of this silliness, and show you how your body actually gets rid of toxins. This is truly a first-world non-problem, thought up by people with nothing better to do than obsess about their narcissism.

27: NASA Never Spent One Million Dollars on a Pen, and more BS Misconceptions

Weve been running at an intense pace with some rather intense topics over the past few episodes, so its a perfect time to lighten things up and take a look at a few BS misconceptions that lots of people still hold to be true. For example, NASA never spent one million dollars developing a pen that would write in space. Also, the notion that eating carrots improves your eyesight is actually the result of a government misinformation campaign that worked. Watch the episode for more.

26: Eric Garners Death, and the Hypocrisy of the NYPDs Broken Windows Policing

With all the media hype surrounding the Staten Island Grand Jurys decision not to indict NYPD officer Daniel Pantaleo in the strangulation death of Eric Garner, we wondered if there was anything we could add. After a deeper look, there most certainly is! Many have cited the NYPDs Broken Windows Policing policies and the fact that Eric Garner was supposedly selling loosie cigarettes as a lame rationale for the confrontation. Not only did we discover that a detailed 8-year old study has proven that Broken Windows Policing doesnt work, but also that the NYPD selectively applies when and where they do it. And if that wasnt enough, we found officer Daniel Pantaleo smiling and waving at the camera, just minutes after he killed Eric Garner.

25: The McMass Project Wants to Open a McDonalds in a Church

Today on Next Level BS we take a look an IndieGoGo fundraising campaign aimed at opening a McDonalds franchise in a church. Yes, thats right, the McMass Project is trying to raise one million dollars in the hopes that having a McDonalds restaurant in a church will help improve attendance. While that sounds ridiculous, we did find one church who used a similar concept, but in a very different way to actually help the community. And we also take a look at how the big fast-food chain strategy is already in place at many churches, which many think is a significant factor in declining attendance.

24: Decades of Institutionalized Racism Set The Stage for Ferguson

We started a typical, isnt this all terrible, send up of the rioting and looting in Ferguson, Missouri, and found ourselves taking a turn down history instead. While the actions of a small percentage opportunists creating the imagery being gobbled up by mainstream media is most certainly abhorrent, its very clearly history repeating. So we took a look at the history, and found that there are important details that people need to know. The intense frustration is deep, and has clearly identifiable influences throughout history.

23: Shut Up Scientists, Go Home, Youre Not Wanted

Today on Next Level BS we take a look at two bills, HR 1422 and HR 4012, designed to suppress science in government. No, seriously, were not kidding or exaggerating. The intent of both bills is to prevent expert scientists from using their experience and accumulated knowledge when working for or with the Environmental Protection Agency, while opening the door for non-science industry experts. Watch the show to learn more, and discover the motivations behind these bills.

Today on Next Level BS, we take a look at the mess caused by Jonathan Grubers comments about Obama Care, how it was purposefully crafted to be obtuse, deceptive, and onerous; as well as the off-the-cuff comment heard around the world: American Voters are Stupid. We take our typical deep-dive into the issue, with tons of research and backup for every important point we discovered. If you care about government transparency, the Affordable Care Act, and the nature of Jonathan Grubers comments, you wont want to miss this episode. And yeah, this is another episode where we expect some serious heat from the political jug-heads out there, well let you decide from which side of the fence itll come.

21: Evil Monsanto, or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the GMOs

Today on Next Level BS, we take great care to find as many people to piss off as possible, as we take a close look Monsantos lawsuit against Maui. Less than 50,000 voters approved a measure to would halt GMO research and crops on Maui for two years. But Monsanto sued and received a temporary injunction, allowing GMO planing and research to continue. We discover some alarming politically motivated hypocrisy in this issue, that is oddly similar to the global warming debate: except that the logic is flipped! Imagine that. And while the proponents of the measure point to the potential for health issues in kids, they allow much more serious activities, that have proven to cause health problems, to continue.

20: Alex Jones Gets It Wrong on Net Neutrality

We go back into op-ed mode, covering Net Neutrality again. We cant help it, this issue is important, and after seeing Alex Jones hyper-passionate video on Net Neutrality, it seemed necessary to correct what appears to be a great deal of misinformation. Alex Jones lumped himself into the deceptive Republican came by calling Net Neutrality, Obama Care for the Internet. Now, we dont like Obama Care, but damn well like the Internet, and that comparison is just wrong. So we break down Alexs video, and help to correct several points. And to be fair, we include just about all of his video so that theres nothing lost in context. We want to like Alex Jones, hes an influential voice in some circles, hopefully, this helps bring facts and accuracy back into the conversation.

19: Net Neutrality, Ted Cruz, and Obamacare

Today on Next Level BS, we take a look at Ted Cruzs recent comments — or lies — regarding Net Neutrality. Following on the heels of Obamas apparent attempt to stay relevant with his YouTube proclamation on Net Neutrality, Ted Cruz had to toss some BS into the fray via Twitter. Since the realities of Net Neutrality have become a politicized land mine, we step you through what it means in a real world scenario, and why Ted is wrong.

18: Eminent Domain Abuse and Corruption: Because… Money!

In this episode of Next Level BS we take a look at two heart-wrenching cases of city governments abusing eminent domain, following the Kelo V New London ruling by the US Supreme Court. The ruling paved the way for cities to use eminent domain to grab private property, and turn it over to developers for things like shopping malls. And to make matters worse, the underhanded city governments are classifying perfectly fine neighborhoods and homes as blight in order to decrease property values in an extortion scheme to get the homeowners to agree to pennies on the dollar. This is turning into a huge problem, as corrupt city governments are in collusion with developers, eyeballing suburban neighborhoods for redevelopment.

17: The American Republic is Dead; Welcome to the New Feudal America

On the morning after the national midterm election, this episode of Next Level BS is more of an OpEd than our previous episodes. Were not bleeding heart liberal hand-wringers lamenting over the bloodbath, no, far from it. Wed put this episode out even if it was a Republican bloodbath. We see the 2014 midterm election as the final step in the death of the American democratic republic, and maturation of the new American Feudal System. The people in DC are no longer decided by the voters, instead, powerful billionaire oligarchs serve as feudal lords, picking their favored knights to appear in the jousting matches in DC.

16: Election Fraud in the United States, with Brad Friedman of the BradBlog

We kick of season two of Next Level BS with an enlightening interview with celebrated investigative journalist, Brad Friedman. Brad has been focusing his efforts on all aspects of election fraud for over a decade, and has been called the Paul Revere of the election integrity fight. We get into some of the fraud over the past few voting cycles, then focus on whats happening with rampant attempts at vote suppression leading up to the 2014 midterm elections. Brad holds no punches, and walks through the details of a wide ranging Republican effort to stop vast segments of the population from voting — including why strict Voter ID laws are BS. Conservatives may not enjoy this episode, but the facts are facts, and thats our focus.

Visit the BradBlog for more election fraud information

15: How State Governments are Planning to Kill Tesla Motors Innovation

Today, on Next Level BS, we look at how states in the US are systematically passing hardened laws to prevent the sale of Tesla Motors vehicles in their states. The most recent, from Michigan, was done in the most insidious way — yeah, thats right; the birthplace of the american car has banned the sale of an american car. We take a close look at the tactics being used by the National Auto Dealers Association and their state counterparts, to collude with state governments to lock out Tesla. Its nothing short of Government-Sponsored support of a Monopoly — no surprise there. This is also the last episode of our first season.

14: Dark Money Madness in the 2014 Midterm Campaigns

This week we take a deep dive into the insane amounts of dark money being spent on the behalf of both parties in the 2014 midterm campaigns. 2014 will be a bellwether year with over $4 billion spent in total, and over $1 billion spent just on advertising alone… beating all records from previous years. Most of that money is going into political attack ads with a huge 64% of all ads focusing on anger as the primary emotional appeal. Also, we single out four television ads as examples of the outright lies being put on the airwaves by these dark money groups.

Progressive Dark Money Group Blames GOP for Ebola Deaths

13: Good Guy Tony Abbott, Paul Ryan on Climate Change, and Fangate!

Today on Next Level BS, we take a trip down under and visit that great guy PM, Tony Abbott. You see, Tony Abbott is terribly misunderstood. While being a self-described conservationist, hes reversing efforts to promote green/renewable energy in favor of coal. While that might seem terrible, we show you how hes actually being a good guy about it. Then we take a look at Paul Ryan, and his comments on human-initiated climate change during a debate, and how a government agency disagrees with him. And finally, the Florida Fangat